Nick Clegg defends vote reform referendum amidst Tory revolt

Tuesday 27 July 2010 15:03 BST

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today defended plans to hold the referendum on changes to the Westminster voting system on the same day as key elections in Scotland and Wales, as signs emerged of a growing revolt over the issue among Conservative backbenchers.

Some 44 Tory MPs have signed a parliamentary motion urging a rethink of timing of the Alternative Vote (AV) referendum, currently pencilled in for May 5 next year.

Critics argue that scheduling the national poll on the same day as elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as local authorities in Northern Ireland and some parts of England risks skewing the outcome.

Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, who tabled the early-day motion, warned of the possibility of "a very odd result" if the referendum turnout is much lower in areas like London, where no other votes are taking place that day.

And he said it would be difficult for broadcasters to fulfil their obligations to be even-handed when faced with a yes/no referendum with members of different parties campaigning on both sides at the same time as a traditional election battle between the parties.

"One has a suspicion that Nick Clegg wants it on this date in order to disguise the fact that there is an awful lot of apathy about changing the voting system," Mr Jenkin told BBC Radio 4's World at One.

Tory former minister Edward Leigh told Mr Clegg at Deputy Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons that the proposed timing for the referendum was "extraordinarily dangerous".

But Mr Clegg retorted that holding the polls on the same day would be convenient for voters and save the state around £17 million.

Some 39 million people, including 84% of English voters and all of those in Scotland and Wales, will be entitled to vote on May 5, said Mr Clegg. It was "perfectly right" to invite them to cast their ballot on electoral reform then, rather than "asking people to constantly go back to polling booths to cast separate votes".

Mr Clegg said it was "disrespectful" to voters in Scotland to suggest that they were unable to make decisions on two different votes at the same time.

Today's motion cites advice from elections watchdog the Electoral Commission that referendums on fundamental issues of national importance should be considered in isolation from other political contests.

Holding the vote on May 5 "would allow other issues to cloud the referendum debate" and risks advantaging one campaign over the other by artificially inflating turnout in some parts of the country, warned the MPs.

But Commission chair Jenny Watson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Given that 39 million voters are already going to the polls on May 5 next year, it seems to us that if we can mitigate the risks - and there are risks, I don't deny that ... then it is deliverable."

The unrest over the referendum date comes as a fresh sign of tension within the coalition, and raises the prospect of a damaging revolt when MPs come to debate the legislation to hold a referendum following the summer break.

The commitment to a referendum on AV was a key part of the coalition agreement between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. Failure to get the legislation through Parliament could deal a fatal blow to the administration.

Securing voting reform has long been a central aim of the Lib Dems, though they previously dismissed AV - which retains the single-member constituency but allows voters to rank candidates numerically - as insufficiently proportional.

Although the Conservatives will be free to campaign to retain the existing first-past-the-post system in the referendum, many believe it represents a concession too far to the Lib Dems.

Among those signing the motion are former ministers Sir Malcolm Rifkind, John Redwood and David Davis - who was reported recently to have referred to the Government as the "Brokeback coalition".

Ashley De, from the Electoral Reform Society, described the signatories as "mischief makers".

"This EDM is frankly sabotage dressed up with a few principles," he said. "The Old Guard want to derail this referendum in Parliament. We want a national debate, but it seems some members have little confidence in their own arguments."

While Labour supports a referendum on AV, the party has signalled that it could still vote against the Bill because it opposes other measures to re-draw parliamentary boundaries.